Solar shading is an essential component to good passive energy design for buildings. Sun angles and building orientation have been basic architectural considerations dating as far back as ancient Egypt, and are commonly seen in such vernacular building formations as shotgun and dog-trot houses, or wrap-around porches. Traditionally, solar design has come in the form of static shading devices applied to building openings, or in building forms which accommodate such strategies in their basic shape and orientation. New technologies, however, have created adaptive solar shading that responds to lighting conditions, time of day, and the presence of building occupants. Although active shading systems currently exist, they tend to rely on mechanical solutions to architectural problems. The use of material-based solutions remains substantially unexplored.